Draco's mother had welcomed him home with open arms. He didn't blame her- house arrest had to be lonely. It'd been several weeks since he left Harry; left the school entirely. The teachers were still mailing him his work and lesson plans, so he was staying caught up, but it didn't feel the same. 

It especially didn't feel the same without a certain Gryffindor boy to comfort; to play with his fingers and lean against while he studied. 

He pushed his food around on his plate before sighing, scooting the plate away from him.

"Thinking about the Omega again, then, dear?"

Draco nodded glumly, taking a bitter bite of strawberry. 

"I don't see why you don't just ask them," his mother sighed, shaking her head. This brought a stray curl to her face, which she brushed back briskly. "This incessant moping is losing it's appeal."

"Luckily, I'm not moping for aesthetics, mother," Draco muttered, dropping the half-eaten strawberry onto his plate. His mother frowned at him for his brutishness, but didn't say anything about it. 

"Why don't you just talk to them?" His mother asked again.

"Because they don't like me. They just like my hormones. I'm distancing myself so that they can see that they don't like Draco Malfoy- they just like the Alpha. That way they can be happy with someone they actually like, not stuck with me."

"I think anyone would be lucky to have you."

"You have to say that, you're my mother. I'm a Death Eater, they're a fucking-"

"Language."

"-freaking good person. It's bullsh- Crap. Bullcrap."

"It's not polite to say 'crap' at the dinner table, Draco."

Draco sighed. "I know mother. I apologize."

"If you like them, then why don't you tell them that? Confront her about your fears."

"I don't fancy finding out for certain that I'm right," Draco mumbled. He hadn't told his mother that he was moping about a boy- yet alone Harry Potter, so he didn't bother correcting the pronouns.

"So you're going to run from her for the rest of your life?"

"Yep. Sounds like a plan."

"I raised a coward," his mother sighed, though she had a slight smile on her face. Draco rolled his eyes. "None the less, I hope you figure it out with them or move on soon. I hate to see my dearest boy so sad."

"Me too. Goodnight mother."

The next day, Draco decided to go to Hogsmeade to visit Miss Kaye. 

When he entered the shop, he called out her name. "Miss Kaye? It's your favorite customer!"

"Ayo, Alpha Boy!" She popped up from behind the counter, blowing her hot pink hair out of her face. Draco blinked at her. 

"Were you hiding behind the counter?"

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe. I don't like having to help customers."

"You seemed eager to help me when I was here last."

"I was bored. You got lucky. So. Why did you come back? Need more cover scent?"

Draco winced. "No. Actually, me and them... Bah. Never mind it. I just wanted to stop in and say hi."

She wrinkled her nose. "Did you fuck it up? You seem like the type to fuck it up. Well, would you like some chocolate to cheer you up?" She held out a bar that was being advertised on the front counter.

"On the house?" Draco asked, ignoring the 'fuck it up' insult, quirking up a brow. She rolled her eyes. 

"You wish. Ten knuts."

"That's rather cheap for a whole bar of chocolate."

"Because they taste like shit. I have to sell all of them by tomorrow or boss man is gonna be pissed, so I lowered the price."

Draco frowned. "I'll take all of them, then."

She rose a brow. "You remember I said they taste like shit, right? And that's like... Fifty bars. Five thousand knuts which is-"

"Exactly one gold galleon. Perfect, because that's all I brought."

He dropped the galleon onto the counter, snatching up the box. 

"You rich or something? What kind of person only carries around Galleons?" 

Draco blinked. "Have you not heard of me or my family before?"

"Nope," Miss Kaye popped the 'p', shrugging. "No clue who you are. Am I supposed to?"

Draco hummed. "It's rare that people haven't heard of the Malfoy name. Though, it's been rather tarnished now, so it's probably a good thing you haven't heard of it."

"Tarnished? How so?"

"We're death eaters. Or, were."

"Oh the dudes with the snake tattoos that wanted to kill everybody, right? Can I see the tat?"

Draco blinked. "You're rather calm about learning that me and my entire family was part of an egomaniac's genocide cult," he spoke carefully, pulling up his sleeve to show her the mark. 

 "If there's anything I've learned talking to dozens of people every day, it's to not judge them by the chapter index. They're misleading. Some of the people with the roughest pasts are some of the kindest people that come through here. Like you."

"I'm a dick."

"You talk like one but you're a gentle soul. I can tell."

"I'm insulted. I'll have you know-"

"Draco Lucius Malfoy!"

Draco froze, staring at miss Kaye with wide eyes. "Is there an angry, medium height boy with glasses and dark hair storming towards me right now?"

"Sounds about right. What kind of name is Draco?"

Draco huffed. "What's your name then, miss Judgy?"

"Sadie. A normal name. He's getting closer. If you want to run you should do it now."

Draco didn't get the chance. The scent of Harry's pheromones made him weak at the knees as he tentatively turned around to face the furious Omega. "Hello, erm, Harry."

"Four. Weeks. You've been gone. Four whole fucking weeks."

Draco sniffed. "Yes. I left you means to contact me if necessary."

"If necessa- Draco, why the hell did you leave? Did you regret it? Were you using me? Why the hell-" Harry shoved at Draco's chest so hard that Draco's spine slammed into the counter behind him, "-Did you leave me?!"

Draco blinked, looking at Harry's distraught expression. He looked like he was about to cry. "I- No, none of those things. Of course not. I just... I thought you were... I panicked, okay? It got overwhelmed and had to leave. I gave you the means to contact me in the case of an emergency. Was the shirt not enough for hormones? I can leave another-"

"I don't give a shit about the hormones or your scent, Draco, I want you back."

"What we have is strictly due to pheromones, Harry. Face it, we never would have become friends without it- it's all we're standing on. Without it, we're nothing. You don't actually like or trust me. I was trying to save you from getting hurt. You don't miss me, Harry, you miss my scent. You miss the alpha. Not Draco. You don't give a shit about him and you know it."

"I went on suppressors and I still missed you. I missed you rubbing my hands to keep them warm. I missed you actually knowing how to teach me. I missed joking with you; I missed you being snarky, I missed the way you looked at me while I was talking, like you were actually listening instead of just going to agree because of who I am. I missed you taking care of me during my heat, I missed you holding me every night. I missed you. I miss you."

Draco blinked. "Are you saying you like me?"

"Obviously! As a friend, of course. I miss what we had."

Draco's face twisted into a slight sneer, turning away from Harry. This is what happens when he lets himself dream. Those dreams get pulverized in front of his very eyes. "I'm sure you do."

Harry was silent for a few moments. "You don't... You don't like me, do you? Like-Like me, I mean."

Draco fell silent, and it seemed like the rest of the world did as well. It was so quiet it was almost deafening. 

"Draco?"

"What?" the blond snapped.

"Look at me."

"I don't see why I'd do that."

"Draco."

"No."

"Do you like me?" Harry repeated, pulling Draco down to his level after forcing the blond to meet his eye. 

"You're tolerable," Draco conceded. "Now let me go."

"Do you have a crush on me," Harry clarified, eyes narrowing.

"I don't see that it's any of your damn business who I like or when or wh- Mmph!"

Draco's never but shut up in a more disrespectful nor better way- A kiss. From Harry Potter. It was brief, but the stunned look on his face and the shock was enough to shut him up for Harry to speak. 

"Listen, I-I don't know if I like you. I'm confused. I just found out I was bi a couple months ago when this whole thing started and I'm still confused about it but I like being with you and I don't want to lose you," Harry rambled, his cheeks flushing pink. "I assumed you didn't like me at all so I didn't bother telling you because you make me feel safe and I didn't want to lose that. Will you give me some time? Please? And come back to school while I figure it out?"

Draco sighed, leaning against the counter behind him and pinching the bridge of his nose. "What are the chances we work out, even if you do like me beyond just me being an Alpha? Our past isn't exactly the best."

"We've been getting along fine," Harry protested, taking a step towards Draco.

"We haven't talked about anything, we're acting like it didn't happen, so of course we get along fine!" Draco dragged his hands through his hair. "We haven't talked about trying to kill each other or the bullying or what happened at my manor or what I've done or-"

"Draco," Harry sighed, shaking his head. "C'mon. We're adults. We can handle it."

Draco gnawed on his bottom lip, thinking, when a voice behind him startled him out of his thoughts. "Is this the Omega you came in and talked about?" Sadie Kaye questioned. 

Draco sighed. "Yes. Harry, this is the shop keep I told you about in the letter. Miss Kaye, this is Harry."

"Nice to meet you. He's pretty," she said, nudging Draco, "no wonder you were in such a tizzy about him."

He nudged back, much harder than she did, with a scowl and blush. "Shut up."

"Does that mean this is where you got that chocolate?" Harry asked quietly, looking somewhat timid. 

"Do you want more?" Draco asked, turning his full attention to Harry, who nodded slightly. 

"Where is it?"

Draco moved along the shelves until he found the isle with the chocolate, grabbing the entire box that the chocolates came in and dropping it on the counter. 

"You really need to stop buying all of our chocolate in bulk," Sadie sighed, "Now I have to restock. Thanks, asshole. Three galleons, you rich prick." (About 75 USD)

"Hey wait I'm gonna pay-"

"No you're not," Draco said, dropping three galleons into her hand.

"Malfoy, I'm not bloody poor, you know that."

"I, quite frankly, don't care. Besides, if we're going comparatively..." Draco trailed off with a cocky grin.

"Yeah yeah, your families... What, the third richest family in wizarding England?"

"All through corruption, yes. Our manor- we didn't pay a cent for it. We got it over a thousand years ago for some shady shit done for a muggle king who gifted it to us- Something about wealth or assassination, I presume. Either way, we did that a lot- acquired expensive property through magical favors for muggles and then turned it around and sold it to the wealthy. All highly illegal. Well, we did that for a couple dozen years, then a couple Malfoy's back got close with the ministry and we started doing shady business with them. Did the shit they weren't legally allowed to do and since they control the authority, we never got caught, and got a nice payload with it. The Ministry is loaded."

Draco stacked the boxes of chocolate he paid for, bidding adieu to miss Kaye and promising to return soon as he left the shop, stopping just in front of the nearest apparition point. "Well, I'll be back to school next week, Potter. Here's your chocolate. The other box tastes like shit, feel free to throw it out. Farewell."

"Wait, Draco-!"

Draco groaned. He'd already started apparating when a hand grabbed onto his wrist. Great.